Chapter 4: Feros and bad news
Took us about three days to get to Feros, but we made our way there at least. The last census showed that the former Prothean colony had close to over a thousand colonists. But we heard that a lot of people were killed once the Geth hit. The Exo-geni H.Q. was among the first places to fall. Now only a small contingent of colonists from the main colony on Feros were left. As for Exo-geni personnel though, we had no damned clue as to that. Now I was getting my "outdated" rifles cleaned as we headed for the planet. This time if Shepard took me with him all I had to worry about was falling off the bridges connecting Exo-geni H.Q. with Zhu's Hope, the main colony on Feros.
"Thompson, you got a minute?" Shepard asked.
"Huh? Oh of course skipper, what do you need?" I asked.
"Looking for personal inquiry, and getting to know the crew better too. You sure you holding up from that blast?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, just a minor concussion brought on by the hard dirt plus I'm pretty much used to those beatings. I took a lot training growing up, even with being on a starship," I said.
"Really? Enlighten me," Shepard said.
"Alright, well back on Earth I took up karate, Okinawin Shorin Ryu and Chinese white crane boxing. Plus played a lot of football. Damn near broke a few bones my second year too, would've ruined everything for me but I pulled through," I said. Then I looked at my still half empty clip from Eden Prime.
"Hey Thompson you alright?" Shepard asked. He waved his hand in front my face and followed my gaze to my clip. "Uh you want me to load that for you?" he asked.
"No, just keeping it like that so I can use the last of them to make up for my mistake on Eden Prime," I said. Tali was walking by and overheard us.
"Mistake?" Shepard asked.
"Saren put one bullet in my gut; I was still conscious and had half a clip remaining. But instead of trying to save my team, I let Saren kill them. Maybe… maybe they'd still be here had I taken the shot. Sure I would've been killed but I would've helped to try and save some marines. I let my team die there commander, now I'm desperately trying to make up for that mistake. Going on this mission with you may provide me with that very chance," I said.
"Don't let that eat away at you marine. There's no way you could've known that would happen. Now you've got a new life and new chance at this, plus with Tali-" said Shepard.
"Damn it have you been talking with Mike again? I swear I'm going to kill him," I said. Shepard laughed at that and explained that my A.I. was the one who thought it up. "What? Note to self, short circuit A.I.," I said.
"Operations Chief, must I remind you once more of the possible consequences if you attempt to do that?" Monty said.
"Man, I need to update your humor skills or something Monty, I hate making a crack at A.I.s and then you telling me all these rules and regs," I grumbled.
"Well you, Mike and Garrus are going in as a separate team. Tali, Wrex and I will go in as the assault squad. We'll try to distract Geth forces as much as possible while you get in and find out what Saren wants here. In the mean time we'll also help out around the colony, see if we can't help out some. You meet up with any other survivor groups, I want to be notified A.S.A.P," said Shepard.
"Affirmative skipper. What's the load?" I asked.
"The what?" Shepard asked.
"How much heavy stuff do we bring? Go in light and stealthy or go in heavy with guns blazing?" I asked.
"Heavy, but make sure to move fast as well. Apparently the Geth have deployed Armatures and heavy troops all along the bridges," said Shepard. He was about to leave when he put in," oh and try not to get blown up again. Got no time dragging yer ass out of the fray."
"Ha-ha-ha, yeah I'll do my best," I said. I put my rifles back together and stowed them. Was going to need something heavier than these, I thought to myself. I looked through my personal stock and found just the thing. I grabbed the RPD and two Desert Eagles. I slapped on an ACOG scope for the RPD and pulled out some grenades, one semtex and frag grenades. Also grabbed four blocks of C-4 incase we needed to blow something up. I ran into Tali on the way to the garage, just outside my quarters too.
"Oh hi Thompson, sorry about bumping into you. I was uh headed back to the engineering deck," she said.
"Really? Uh me too. Going to get Garrus and Mike ready. We're going in as the infiltration team," I said.
"Oh well uh why not we go there together the garage and engineering room aren't far apart," said Tali.
"Sure, I mean if it's alright with you," I said. We walked to the elevator and endured some awkward silence time. The damned elevator was taking too long to descend. "So uh, how long you been on your pilgrimage?" I asked.
"Huh? Oh not long actually. About two or three months," she said.
"Really? That's a pretty short time," I said. I decided to try and break the ice some more and said," you know there's actually people back on earth who go pilgrimages," I said.
"Really? Do they need to get accepted to a ship too?" Tali asked. She sounded intrigued.
"No not really. But with some, in way. Most pilgrimages are for religious folk, Islamic people for example. They travel to a place in the Middle East for acceptance from God or something. Others pretty much to teach a lesson. The Amish people send their children to a city for their pilgrimage to seek new things. Amish don't exactly use any of the technology like most people do. They'll send their kids to the city so they learn how different it is and let them decide something," I said.
"What is that something?" Tali asked.
"Return to their village if they find city life repulsive or degrading or stay in the city to start a new life. Some go back and some don't. But they understand, hell I've got some friends who are of Amish descent," I said.
"Wow, I never knew about that. So do you want to know about my people?" she asked.
"Yeah sure why not? Might be interesting," I said.
"Well in my people's traditions our pilgrimages are meant to help our species survive. Many will bring back a ship or a mineral that's needed to repair something. I however want to bring something back that'll help us immensely, not some cast away ship or rock," she said.
"Man sounds like you're trying to prove something," I said. The elevator stopped and the doors opened up.
"Yes that's because my father is an admiral," she said before leaving me with Garrus.
"Well for someone who's not into Quarians you hurt your case right there," said Garrus.
"Yeah. Heard Radar's going to have some mail for us in a bit. Maybe you'll get lucky and your girl leaves you. Make you available to go out with Tali," said Mike.
"Yeah well we're shit out of luck on that marines. Commander's got us designated as an infiltration team. Once we reach the Highway, Shepard and his team will help any group of survivors we come across. We've got the job of going into the H.Q. and nabbing any juicy info that rears its head. We go in heavy and need to move fast," I said. That drew a groan from Mike.
"I'm guessing you volunteered us for that," he said.
"Nope. Much as I want to take credit for that I can't. Shepard's ordering us guys. But we'll need to procure a vehicle once we're groundside," I said. Shepard's going to use the Mako while we use something a little speedier. Hopefully in pretty good shape," I said.
"Great let's get ready then. Hey Supply guy! Got anything in the heavy weapons department?" Mike shouted. I rolled my eyes at Mike and went over to engineering. I wanted to know a little more about Tali, including the fact that she mentioned her dad being and admiral. But Shepard stopped this because we were about to dock.
Joker brought the Normandy in easy and allowed us off board. We were met by a colonist who told us to go and meet guy named Fai Dan, their leader apparently. Before we could any more info though, he got hit by a Geth laser rifle.
"Damn! Thought outside the dock was the colony. How did the Geth get through," I asked.
"Maybe they hot dropped 'em in to take us out," said Mike.
"Less talk more fight!" shouted Wrex.
"Roger that. Rock and Roll time Bitches!!" I shouted. I put my RPD on a chunk of granite and began firing. Hot lead poured out the barrel and took out the Geth's shields and ripped into them. "Come on get some!!" I shouted.
"Keep it up!" Shepard shouted. A sniper tried to take a shot at me but was eliminated by Mike. After five minutes of sustained fire, all Geth were dead and I hadn't changed clips.
"Never knew an RPD to have so much ammo," Tali said.
"When it comes to Tex he always has a little something up his sleeve. Guy has all of his guns augmented in some way. RPD follows the Sturmgewehr ammo system, small bullets means lots of bullets per clip or belt in this case. Surprised he didn't go with the M60 for this one," Mike explained.
"Why the M60?" Shepard asked.
"The tips have bits of pressure detonated XV-12 demo charges. Packs a helluva punch," I said," But I decided to go with amount of bullets rather than firepower, which sounds stupid once I said it aloud."
"Yeah no kidding but hey we still got a bit of firepower," said Wrex.
"Yeah you guys got the Mako, we still got to find us a vehicle for our trek across the bridge," I said.
"Maybe we'll find something similar or something," Tali said.
"Well right now let's find this Fai Dan and get moving," said Shepard. We walked through the colony and saw the everyone trying to get the colony back up and running. Water was almost gone and they needed power. And according to one of their guys, some Alpha Varren was tearing up hunting parties. We found Fai Dan at the other end of the colony. He was about to give us a run down of the situation but was interrupted by Geth.
We helped out in repelling them but were unable to save a colonist. We pushed further into the tower and repelled even more Geth who had breached outer colonial defenses. After another firefight in this tower we reported back to Fai Dan and we told us as much as he could about what happened here. Geth came in uninvited as always and next thing the colonists knew was the fact that Geth soldiers were slaughtering them. Exo-geni H.Q. fell in the initial assault and Zhu's Hope is barely hanging on by their nails.
"Well my infiltration team is about to hit them where hurts, the Exo-geni H.Q. Unfortunately I planned for two separate teams, the infiltration team and my assault team. You got an extra working vehicle around?" Shepard asked.
"Hmm, we do but I'm not sure if you'll want it. When we made landfall, Exo-geni couldn't afford all the new ground vehicles that the other colonies have but we do have an extremely old M-8 Greyhound from the second world war on Earth," Fai Dan said.
"Wait, an actual M-8 Greyhound? I know how to drive one, so we'll take it," I said.
"Alright, east we can do to help. There's ammo for the main gun and machine guns already in it. Its over in the garage. Go through the tower, and take the elevator. There you'll find the Normandy's Mako and the Greyhound waiting. Good luck and be careful. It's a real bitch to drive on the bridges especially with those tanks on you," Fai Dan said.
"Thanks for the tank. Thompson's going to have a hay day in that thing. He's a bit old fashioned. Hell if he wanted to die faster he'd use flintlocks and single shots," Shepard jokingly said. That drew chuckles from everyone including me since it was true, more or less any way. "Thompson move it out. Radio in if you find anything," Shepard said.
"And don't try radioing that you've found the love of your life and her name is Tali," Mike said jokingly.
"Mike I swear we make it out of here alive, I'm going to kill you… slowly," I said.
"Ooooh now I'm really shaking. Come on let's just get the car and go," Mike said.
"It aint a car, it's a tank. There's a distinct difference," I said.
"Yeah yeah. By the way I got dibs on the turret," said Mike.
"Like you'd be able to drive the M-8," I said. Tali was barely able to conceal a chuckle about out argument here. No on but me noticed that. "Come on the damned Geth aren't going to wait for us. I say it's high time we kick ass," I said.
"We've been kicking ass," Mike said as we jogged toward the elevator.
"Not in combat sim. Jackass," I said. Shepard nearly burst out laughing at that. So did Wrex and Tali. Garrus barely had time to laugh as we picked up our pace. For a while Shepard and the assault team helped out the colony while Garrus, Mike and I ran the gauntlet. Armatures every where and supported by infantry.
"Damn! We got these assholes every where!" Mike shouted.
"Well get to wasting them Jackass!" I shouted back.
"What the fuck do you think I'm doing!?! Taking a nap? It not very easy to target these fuckers with you driving like a damn psycho. I was lucky to nail those two half a block ago," Mike said.
"Shut up or nut up marine. Those are your only two choices here. Shut up and shoot or start shooting and yelling. Pick one and live with it," I said. The assault team was listening in and kept breaking in laughter at our banter we passed back and forth. Then we shaped up as we began to intercept a civilian transmission. "Commander, this is Thompson. Picking up a transmission near our position. Sector twelve gird eight. Be advised, may be survivors from Exo-geni given our distance from the damned place. Will radio the survivors of your eventually arrival. Don't keep them waiting chief. We'll be bout three or so blocks from the Exo-geni place by the time you get there," I said.
"Roger that. Any resistance we should expect?" Shepard asked.
"We took out a few armatures a ways back and some infantry but the Geth could've reinforced. Stay on yer toes and stay frosty. Infiltration team out," I said.
"Roger assault team out. Alright Tali and Wrex we're heading out. Infiltration team found some refugees. We're going to see if they need help. Pack up and move out," Shepard said.
"Bout time we go somewhere. Had enough of this sitting around. Lets go kick some synthetic ass," Wrex said. They headed for the elevator and entered it. After a short elevator ride, they boarded the Mako and drove to the coordinates of the refugees. As they drove they found a lot of damage and very few Geth. "Damn it. Next I'm going with Thompson, least he gets to fight multiple Geth," Wrex said.
The Mako sped up and they eventually came upon the camp. There were certainly civvies here. "Infiltration this is assault we've reached the camp, how you guys doing?" Shepard asked.
"Fine and we just caused a Geth ship to crash. Made one helluva racket. Found some juicy data on some Geth bases too. Might want to check these out once we're done here. By the way expect massive resistance when we get back to Zhu's Hope," I said.
"Why?" Shepard asked. He thought that the Geth had already broken through and were taking up new positions before advancing on the Normandy.
"There's something under the damn place. Something called species 37 I think. Its actually called a Thorian some type of plant life. Takes over people's minds. And it knows we're gunning for it by now," I said.
"Roger we'll ask the group here if they know anything about it. We'll wait for you and then from there we'll go after the Thorian," said Shepard.
"Affirmative oh and hope you knocked out all the remaining Geth cause all we have left in the Greyhound is ammo for the machine gun. We are already in route to the group will link up soon, out," I said. Wrex and Tali could hear the roar of the tank.
"Roger that we hear you approaching. Will be entering the group now," Shepard said.
"Roger pulling in, wait a minute. Oh shit Shepard get in damn place now. Sounds like we got us a mutiny or something. Pulling in now," I said. Shepard saw the Greyhound pull in and it looked like shit. Even Wrex began thinking about my driving skills as unruly.
"Please forgive our vehicles appearance. Geth lasers and Tanks don't exactly have a good outcome nor a pretty one," said Monty.
"Just when I thought you didn't have a sense of humor Monty," I said.
"What joke did I say?" Monty said.
"Oh how I wished you actually meant to tell a joke for once in your life or at least before I fucking die!" I said," which may be sometime during this mission."
"I am sorry Operations Chief, maybe I'll try to make one during this mission. Do my best," said Monty. We all got out and Shepard noticed we had one more team member than when we departed.
"Who's the recruit?" Wrex asked.
"Yeah well we saved her and now she's joining us. Or at least Thompson's side," said Mike. Tali then "looked" a bit disappointed or maybe mistook Mike's meaning.
"Uh not a recruit. Nor is joining any sides. She's a survivor from Exo-geni. She was the one who told us about the Thorian. Right now seems like we are wasting time when we should be helping out in the group and where did the girl go?" I asked. I looked around and noticed the woman go into the little "bunker" off to our right. "Damn it. Wait," I said.
We ran to catch up and she took up position just out of eye sight of the other refugees. We then noticed some sort of argument taking place between two of the refugees. "You can't do this Jeong! You Can't just repurpose us like machines," said a woman.
"Shut up! Just shut up. Let me think for a minute," said Jeong. Upon seeing her mother, she told us about her in the Greyhound, being taken the survivor attempted to stop them.
"Stay away from her you bastard!" she shouted.
"No goddamn it. Stay put!" I said. But she still ran over to the group.
"Ah damn it! Come on out come out where we can see you!!" Jeong shouted. We all came out and unfortunately Jeong was pissed. "You! You must be the soldiers that landed at Zhu's Hope. Well we don't need your help. Communications are back up and we've received new orders. Exo-geni wants this place purged. We're going to repurpose this place," he said.
"What? Are you insane you idiot? Those are civilians you're talking about. They're not machines. That's a bullshit order and you know it!" we all said.
"I know it doesn't right but orders are orders. We must follow them or Exo-geni will terminate our contract with them. We have no other alternative, though I wish we did," Jeong said in reply.
"Well maybe you don't need to do that. Say that the colonists stood up against the Geth and another unidentified life form and won. Call it "Humanity against all odds" or something. Nice peaceful way of saving the colonists while you keep your contract. Win-win for everyone," Shepard said.
"Hmmm, I never thought of that. But you're right we'll use that. Now we won't need to forcefully repurpose these people. Thanks," Jeong said.
"Alright now that that mess is cleaned up what are we going to do about the Thorian? It still has the colonists under its control and god knows what else," I said.
"I thought it was a plant," Shepard asked.
"Right forgot to mention that it has the power to control minds. But other than that, we have no idea what else it has," I said.
"Hmm, I do have a formula Exo-geni had my working. Its essentially a gas that knocks people out. Designed for a grenade off course," said the survivor's mother.
"Alright we'll use that incase the colonists engage us. Firearms are strictly on safety unless we run out of grenades. Once we do, do for disabling shots, arms and legs," Shepard said. The scientist handed us the upgrade and we quickly divided it into our supply of grenades. I even put it in my semtex grenade but removed the C-4 in it so it didn't kill anyone by accident. With our grenades upgraded we left the outpost and headed for the colony. Luckily there were no Geth but unfortunately we ran into something new at the entrance to the colonies garage.
Damn thing looked like a zombie. It pounced on Shepard but Wrex and I were able to pull it off before it did any real damage. Mike put a burst of bullets into it and watched as it blew into pieces.
"Commander, you are all right?" I asked as we helped him up.
"Fine, but what the hell was that thing? Didn't seem human at all," Shepard said.
"It wasn't. It didn't have any distinguishing human marks. My guess, this one of the Thorian's latest surprises. Also I'm pretty sure we can expect more of these fuckers. Mike stay in there and if there are these things in there mow 'em down but keep a watchful eye for colonists," I said.
"Roger that. Mind getting the door?" Mike asked. Shepard hit the button and suddenly we all just dropped our jaws. I called it, there was more of these things. They rose up and began charging. Thankfully there were no colonists so Mike's job was easier right there. He unleashed what was left of the thirty caliber gun's ammo into the damned beasts. Wrex and Shepard held the left flank while Tali and I had the right. But then colonists joined the fight.
"Damnit! Those colonists are going to wind up getting shot," Shepard said.
"Leave that to me," I said. I drew a grenade and threw it over the colonists cover. It blew and sent the unruly militia into a nice little slumber. "unruly bastards sleeping now. But not the dead way, that'd be just over kill," I said. Mike disembarked the greyhound and ran with us as we made our way to the elevator.
"Okay now every one be ready no telling how bad it is with the colonists now, just watch your fire and make sure you use yer gas grenades to incapacitate the civvies. If you have none left, use hand to hand combat. Watch out for more those zombie things," Shepard said.
"You got it chief. We'll shot the zombies while you play hero and watch us die. Or at least watch Jones fie and us laughing at his demise," I said jokingly.
"I think you got that mixed up. I'm pretty sure I'll die while your asking Tali out instead of helping me," mike countered.
"Shut up meat sack," I said.
"Aren't you a meat sack as well then we are the same species after all," Mike said.
"how you two manage to joke around and keep our spirits up is unimaginable," Tali said.
"Years and years of practice. Mike's got the most experience though," I said.
"alright cut it out save the jokes for later. We still got a job here. Thompson once we're done I'll put in a request to command to get you a ship to take you to those outposts you found," Shepard said.
"Outposts?" Tali asked.
"Long story I'll explain it later," I said. The elevator came to a stop and we filed out ever so cautious of the new enemy we had faced just moments ago. And as we neared the colony, we came under fire from colonists.
"Damn, Mike toss a grenade over," Shepard said.
"Ok chief. Want me to pull the pin and then toss it to you and just do it the colonists," mike said jokingly. Tali was right while we constantly made jokes we kept them in line and helped the squad sometimes.
"Them!" Shepard shouted. Mike pulled the pin and threw the grenade. A bright flash followed and the squad of colonists were unconscious. "move it up!" Shepard shouted. We moved forward and engaged more zombies and colonists. I saved my semtex grenade and use my other ones just in case I needed it for something.
It took twenty or thirty minutes to reach the container the survivor had told us about but we made it and saved every colonist along the way. But then Fai Dan showed up.
"It wants me to stop you but I don't want to. I try to fight but it gets in your head. You… just… can't imagine the pain," he said. I had already pulled out my semtex grenade and pulled the pin. While he rambled on I tossed it and stuck him. "these people trusted me, they wanted me to protect them. But I failed them, I didn't see it coming fast enough but I still didn't stop it. It wants me to stop you but I won't," he said. He had drawn his gun and was pointing it at us. "I WON'T!!" he shouted. He was about to shoot himself but then the grenade went off and knocked him out.
I checked him and found him still alive. No need for someone to kill themselves for something they couldn't ever see, I thought. Mike had raised the ship and we descended into the abyss. I was going to make this son of bitch plant pay for this. We found the thing with little effort, mainly because it wasn't what we had expected.
"uh big plant," Mike said.
"Guess we'll need more firepower to bring this fucker down," I said.
"Sirs, I have detected several structures protruding from the Thorian and have determined that the destruction of these should cause the creature to fall and die. The C-4 Chief Thompson brought should be exactly what we need to accomplish this," Monty said.
"good Thompson get to work," Shepard said.
"Aye, aye commander," I said. As I walked toward one the highlighted tentacle things in the wall, and Asari commando jumped me and took me hostage.
"Shit! Tex!" Mike shouted.
"I speak for the old one and say that your journey ends here. You are not the only flesh creature to arrive, the one known as Saren came as well. He attempted to kill me once I had given him exactly what he needed. The cipher, essential for understanding the vision he had on the planet called Eden Prime," said the commando.
"put the man down. Now before we put a bullet in your head," Shepard said. Wrong choice of words buddy, I thought.
"'Put him down'? what a great idea," the commando said. She took her knife and brought on the unprotected part of my neck. She dug into my skin and dragged the knife sideways, tearing and cutting skin. I felt my blood begin to spill out as the knife stopped following a gunshot from Tali. The commando died and let me go.
"Shit, shit, shit. Not good, not good," Mike said. I was desperately trying to stop the bleeding and Mike stabbed my arm with a painkiller which slowed my breathing and blood flow.
"we got to get him to the ship," Shepard said.
"I'll take him," Wrex said," no way this warrior is dying before me."
"Wait the C-4. Thompson still has the C-4," said Mike. I motioned to my pack and Wrex tossed it to our team. Garrus caught it and fished out the demo charges. Wrex was already half way inside the airlock telling Joker to open up. Joker seeing the trouble opened the door and Wrex ran me down to the Med lab. Once again I was out of the fight, this time I lasted a bit longer though. Liara and Chakwas quickly began fixing me up and were successful even though I now had a nasty scar.
Shepard and the rest of the team were successful in saving the colony and Fai Dan even let us have the Greyhound. Small thing to do to thank me for saving his life even if he didn't want saving. Shepard didn't expect me to be at the debriefing but was slightly impressed, not easy to come back from a knife wound to the neck. But we were able to get the cipher thanks to the real Asari that was sacrificed by Saren to obtain it. She wanted Shepard to pass along her apologies for nearly killing me. I didn't hold it against her though hard to keep your sanity when you're clone is being driven by a homicidal plant. Liara melded with Shepard's mind to help him make sense of the vision but unfortunately he had only partials of the true vision. Radar came in with the mail and passed it out.
He gave me mine and Mike made another crack about my Girlfriend leaving me. I tried to shake it off but the letter showed that he was right. My girl, the one who promised to wait for me, was leaving me. Apparently being light years away was a strain on our relationship. She was leaving me for some rich guy, a bank manager. His family were rich mothers to boot. I left the letter on my chair and stormed out of the comm. room, to angry to say anything.
"Hey looks like Thompson walked out on us Shep, I say we bag and tag him," Mike said jokingly.
"Guess he got some bad news in his letter or something," said Radar.
"Well read it then. See what's up," Garrus said.
"What? He'll hit me. Plus that's a violation of regulations. I could get court martialed," Radar said.
"Well just say we ordered you too. Can't disobey orders," Mike said.
"oh oh ok I'll read it," Radar said. He picked up the letter and silently read it. "Oh shit," he said simply.
"what?" Shepard asked.
"Uh its his girlfriend sirs. She's left him for… a banker? That doesn't even make sense," said Radar.
"Radar forget sense, that's not right. Tex doesn't deserve to be left, let alone for a damn banker. Now we can expect Thompson to be doing everything in his power to more or less get himself killed. This mission will provide him those opportunities too," mike said.
"Great just what he needs. First he gets his throat slit and now his girl leaves him. Wonder how this'll turn out," Kaiden said.
"Hmm normally I don't care about this type of thing but I gotta agree with you guys. Not right she broke up with him through a letter. A letter! Should've faced him rather than this, damned coward," said Wrex.
"Maybe I could talk to him, he seems calm around me," Tali suggested.
"Yeah, yeah maybe your right. Worth a shot too, what have we got to lose?" Mike asked.
"I agree. Tali go and do whatever it is that needs to be done here," Shepard said. Tali left and everyone else was dismissed. She found me taking my anger out on some things in my cabin. I threw some old experiments I was working on into a wall and nearly snapped a rifle in two.
"Hey you alright?" She asked.
"No I'm not. My damned girl left me for a banker!" I said.
"Well for what it's worth I think that she was wrong to do that. I also heard Shepard is recommending you for a medal, a Purple Heart for that nasty cut. I think she'll want to claw her back to you once this mission is done with. You know us being hero's and all," Tali said.
"Yeah but now… now I'm alone. Up against impossible odds with nothing to fight for. I might as well to shoot myself right now," I said.
"You do and then I'll do it too. You're not alone, least not for long. I could find some time to help you with your projects. Plus you still need to tell me about those outposts. But mostly cause I'll have you to myself. No damned back stabber to ruin what might blossom between us," Tali said. I looked at her curiously and her body language meant she was serious about what she said.
I felt a simile grow and said," I'd like Tali. And well I hope something does blossom." She didn't have anything to say and left saying "see you later." I went about trying to clean up my mess. Now all that was left was Noveria. With a new friend I had to become more than friends, hopefully I was more interested in surviving my mission.
A/N: thanks to all who do read this but please review it and give some ideas for the upcoming missions. But stick to the game's story as much as possible.